Revelations Now Fully Known
by RevSue
Summary: Crossover story set in Genovia following series Now In a Mirror Dimly involving Clarisse and Joseph from Princess Diaries, Catherine and Robert from One Special Night, and Nanny and Sir Wilkes from the Eloise movies.
1. Chapter 1

Revelations Now Fully Known

Summary: Catherine and Robert from One Special Night and Nanny and Wilkes from Eloise come to Genovia to be with Clarisse and Joseph (Princess Diaries) .... in the 'universe' of and following the stories Now in a Mirror Dimly .net/s/2859266/1/ Then Face to Face .net/s/2895850/1/ and The Greatest of These is Love .net/s/3139966/1/

Warning: Reading this will force you to suspend your beliefs about time (since I've brought Nanny and Wilkes forward about 50 years just like in the preceding stories with these couples in the 'series'...) and medical knowledge (since I've just written about things I know NOTHING about and have used those vague assumptions as 'factual' basis in order for the story to 'work') and just about everything else (like the fact that I hate angst) ... so please forgive me for that! IN OTHER WORDS, TAKE THIS STORY WITH A TRUCKLOAD OF SALT!!! Just read what is written and don't bother questioning anything, because if you DO, nothing will make sense.... *grin*

THANK YOU to Kiki, Sue and tayryn for support and reading excerpts and offering suggestions and ideas and not laughing themselves sick at the absurdity of this whole story.....

_Disclaimer: I don't own ANY of these characters, since the Eloise movies are the property of Disney and Kay Thompson, the Princess Diaries movies are the property of Disney, Buena Vista and Meg Cabot, and One Special Night was produced by kaBOOM! Entertainment Inc. for television. I make no money from this work of fiction... sigh..._

"It's about time you two came to New York again instead of us coming HERE!" Wilkes said, smiling at Robert and Catherine as the two couples relaxed in the living room of the Woodward's 'holiday home'. "Now that Catherine is retired, YOU, Robert, have an obligation to your bride to spend more time with her instead of your business."

"Ah, but summer is the time to relax OUT of the hustle-bustle of the city," Robert said. "That's why we invited you and Nanny out to our vacation home... to help us celebrate Catherine's first couple of days as a retiree."

"And we're also celebrating the fact that Robert has FINALLY finished the new bedrooms and deck," Catherine chuckled. "But yes, we'd love to come to New York again to visit. Preferably before next New Year's Eve!"

"What are your plans now?" Nanny asked. "Being bored is not allowed, you know!" she frowned severely, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

The other three adults chuckled, then Catherine said, "Actually, we were thinking of taking a trip to Genovia. Clarisse and Joseph were very upset about missing our wedding last month, and made us promise to come as soon as we could. They actually asked us to come for their anniversary. And you know Clarisse was talking about starting up a Children's Hospital...."

"Why don't you two come with us?" Robert asked, his hand smoothing over his wife's fingers which curled around and held him tightly as she smiled at him.

"Perhaps we could..." Wilkes said. "Nanny?"

"Oh, for sure, sure, sure," Nanny smiled. "It would be nice to see Joey and Clarisse again. And Kay and Eloise will be in Paris for the next two months..."

"You still look after that child as much as you ever did?" Robert asked.

"Oh my Lord, no. She's in school now... and has another companion when Kay can't be around. Willy and I are just like her grandparents."

"Even though we never had the pleasure of having children of our own," Wilkes said pensively.

A peculiar expression crossed Nanny's face, and a similar one crossed Catherine's. Both men noticed. Wilkes said nothing, but, "What?" Robert demanded, not one to hold back his thoughts. He knew why CATHERINE had reacted that way, but had never thought about... "Nanny? DID you have a child of your own?"

"Robert!" Catherine scolded him softly. "Nanny is allowed her secrets..."

"No, it's all right," Nanny said. She took Wilkes' hand, then, and, somewhat pleadingly said, "I never had the nerve to ever tell you, Willy, but....well..."

"If you think I didn't know you had had... well..., relationships... before you met me, you don't have much opinion of my intelligence," Wilkes said comfortingly, patting her hand with his free one.

"But did you know I..." she swallowed hard, then continued in a very low voice, "I had a baby long ago? I... I was only nineteen..."

The other three stared at her in silence, Wilkes not liking the thoughts swirling about in his head – namely that Nanny had been about eighteen when she had met Joseph... Clarisse's Joseph. Wilkes had tried to forget the time he and Clarisse had seen Joseph and Nanny kissing... had tried to tell himself that it had been the innocent kiss both Joseph and Nanny had claimed it to be... but obviously the little green monster of jealousy still thrived in the back of his mind. Had Nanny borne Joseph's child? And where was the baby?

As if in answer to his unspoken question, Nanny continued softly, looking down at her hands holding Wilkes' slightly trembling hand. "It was so long ago...but I've never truly forgotten. I gave my baby up for adoption without ever seeing her... I signed the papers then I left the city... the country... and never went back."

Wilkes gulped at that. She HAD to have had Joseph's baby! Just before leaving England! He felt his heart beginning to pound furiously, and tried to will it to slow down before anyone noticed.

"Nanny!" Catherine was horrified. "Oh, Nanny, I'm so sorry!" She was up out of her chair and hugging Nanny right away.

Nanny blinked back her tears and hugged Catherine back, then glanced shyly at Wilkes who was still staring at her, open-mouthed, much as Robert was. "I'm so, so, so sorry, Willy. I wanted to tell you... but I didn't know how..."

"I envy you!" Catherine said unexpectedly and fiercely. "I know it's wrong, but I envy you! I wanted a baby so desperately, and Tom and I..." She choked on her own sudden tears, wanting to cry aloud for her babies who had never had a chance to live.

"Catherine, honey..." Robert came to life then. "Remember that one special child? You told me last Thanksgiving that you had never thought of it that way..."

"It's just that I can't forget either of the two babies that I miscarried at six months," Catherine sighed. "I KNEW them... Whenever I think of them, even now, I can picture what they look like. Back then, I could envision a little girl growing up who had Tom wrapped around her little fingers, or I could see him showing our son how to throw a baseball. I imagined what the first days at kindergarten would be like, the first days of high school, and then of college. I fancied how proud Tom would have been when his son confided his first love to him or how I would talk about boys with our daughter,.." Catherine shook her head and, looking at the others' sympathetic faces, she tried to remember what she had wanted to say. She took a deep breath and took Robert's hand for support, squeezing it hard. "Yes, it was hard not being able to conceive again... and we tried for so long... but to lose a baby after feeling it move... The first time it was heart-breaking to see my dead daughter, and the second time, when they told me the baby was dead, I refused to even SEE it or hear about it. I just couldn't. It was agony knowing I'd lost another. I don't even know if it was a boy or girl. Tom and I were on vacation, visiting my parents in California... and..." Her emotions overcame her and she had to stop speaking.

Nanny hugged her friend fiercely. "Aoww, Catherine, that's so, so, so sad! But at least you don't have the worry about whether or not your baby had a good home. Yours BOTH have the best possible home with the angels, even if you would have preferred their home to be the same as yours. It's strange but in spite of the pain of thinking about her, I've followed my little girl in my mind since her birth as well... she wouldn't be little any more, of course. I hope she went to a good home, and for sure, sure, sure I hope she is a good person... but aoww, it breaks my 'eart sometimes to think I'll never know her." Nanny said, the tears shimmering in her blue eyes so much like Catherine's. "It must be the same for you." Then she tried to smile. "I've told Eloise over and over and over again that it's a terrible thing to have a broken 'eart..."

After a moment, Catherine pulled away from Nanny with a pat of gratitude, then said huskily, "Well, I suppose me having miscarriages was of some use... I was only nineteen myself, and after the last one, when a doctor told me I would never be able to have any more children, my parents urged me to go to medical school and learn how to prevent such things... so that's why I became a doctor specializing in paediatric cardiology..."

No one spoke for a moment, then Robert shifted uncomfortably and finally growled, "Hey, damn it! This is supposed to be a PARTY! What are we doing, letting you women start to cry and mope and...?"

"You're right. It's just not done! We... we just have to... well, fake it until we make it!" Nanny said firmly. "Joey told me that a long, long, long time ago. If we pretend we're happy, we WILL be! My stars, stars, stars," she added, sliding back beside her husband, "I AM happier with my Willy than I have ever been in my life. I don't have to pretend to know that!" Her lips met Wilkes' in a quick, hard kiss.

"So am I, my love," he whispered, savagely suppressing the unwanted feelings of jealousy. He KNEW Nanny loved him now, whatever she might have felt for Joseph in the past... the DISTANT past.

"I am happier than I thought I would ever be again this time last year," Catherine agreed, kissing her own husband who enthusiastically returned her embrace.

"So am I. I'd have bet a thousand dollars last year that I'd NEVER be truly happy again, and that's no metaphor. But then Catherine came into my life... then old friends and new... and damn, what a terrific new course my life has taken! I think this calls for a toast! To us!" Robert grinned, and they all lifted and drained their glasses.

Conversation then moved from the personal to more general, and they talked about Genovia again, and Joseph's marriage to Clarisse that had shocked many people in their own country as well as the rest of the world.

"It will be their anniversary in a week," Nanny said pensively. "Remember when Eloise made us get up in the middle of the night to 'attend' the televised wedding? Oh my Lord, what a night! It was good of you to come, Wilkes..."

"I could not possibly have stayed away... after all, we weren't married yet, so it gave me the chance to sit beside you... and do a little kissing and cuddling while Eloise was asleep on the floor..." Wilkes chuckled, watching the flush rise on his wife's lightly-freckled cheeks.

Just then the phone rang. "I'll get it," Robert announced, rising from his place on the couch beside Catherine.

"It's probably one of your daughters calling to see how Catherine enjoyed her last day of work, for sure, sure, sure!" Nanny chuckled.

"They DID come around to accepting that you and Robert are married, didn't they?" Wilkes asked Catherine, handing his wife a cold glass of beer before refilling Catherine's wine glass then his own.

"For the most pa...," Catherine began, then forgot what she was saying as Robert started talking excitedly.

"Joe! Good to hear from you! Nanny and Wilkes are here with us, so are your ears burning? We were just talking about your surprise wedding last year. Getting ready for the big anniversary ball?... What is it?..... What? Who? My God! And... I see... How is Clarisse taking it?... Damn it, I can imagine... If there is anything we can do, Joe..." He turned and gestured for Catherine to turn on the television as he listened to Joseph's.

All three people in the small living room of the cabin jumped to turn on the television, then listened horrified as the announcer said, "--ing news from the small country of Genovia where the young woman born and raised in the United States was crowned queen last year. Queen Amelia was rushed to the hospital just a few hours ago, and is reported to be in serious condition due to multiple car accident which has claimed the life of one security guard, critically injured two others, and sent ten others to the hospital with undisclosed injuries."

"WHO?" Nanny and Wilkes both were quickly at Robert's elbow.

"Here's Nanny, Joe," Robert handed the phone to Nanny and wiped his forehead.

"Joey?" Nanny asked, "How IS Mia?"

"She's not good, but although it's serious, her injuries aren't life-threatening. No, it's... it's Charlotte and Shades... they don't know yet if either will live..." Joseph's voice broke.

Nanny caught her breath. Charlotte had been a wonderful friend since they had met just over a year previously. "Can we come?" was her next question.

"Clarisse and I would love it if you could ALL come... Actually, Genovia One is on its way now to San Francisco for Mia's mother Helen, her husband and baby. I can arrange for it to stop in New York City for you. It would only give you about six hours to be ready..."

"Wilkes and I can be at the airport then," Nanny said, mouthing "six hours?" to Catherine and Robert who both nodded. "And Catherine and Robert say they can be ready too."

"I can't tell you how much this means to Clarisse and myself," Joseph said, his voice shaking with the intensity of his emotions. "You're all wonderful friends..."

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ To Be Continued.....


	2. Chapter 2

Twelve hours later, a spacious private waiting room in the hospital in Pyrus, Genovia was the scene for the reunion of the three diverse couples who had all become close friends in the last year. Clarisse and Joseph had come from Mia's bedside when Helen and Patrick O'Connell had arrived with a sleepy Trevor who was promptly whisked away to be entertained by an orderly, but the others had not been allowed to do more than peek into the intensive care unit where Charlotte and Shades were hooked up to a myriad of machines and half hidden by the ventilator tubes down their throats. Both were still unconscious, both had had x-rays and cranial CT scans, both had a concussion and internal injuries. Shades had had a cheekbone shattered and would have to undergo plastic surgery to repair it once he was stabilized enough. Because his spleen had already been removed after an earlier accident, his internal injuries were worrisome and his loss of blood critical. Four of Charlotte's ribs had broken, one puncturing her lung which had collapsed, necessitating a chest tube. It was virtually impossible to recognize either one because of the bruises and swelling along with all the attending necessary medical equipment. Nanny had had to be helped to the waiting room by an equally anguished Wilkes. Robert and Catherine, never having met any of the victims, were doing their best to support their friends at this time.

Clarisse, speaking tensely and openly showing her anxiety, told them that a plea had gone out from the hospital for blood and all of Pyrus had responded. Some of the other accident victims had been in need of blood, but the danger had passed for them. However, it seemed that the young couple most severely injured both had a rare combination of antigens in their blood and there was no one in the entire city who had blood that would be perfectly compatible. The doctors were to come give as full a report as possible to her in a few minutes since while Mia was recovering, as indeed it seemed she would, Clarisse would once again be acting as the ruler of Genovia.

"If it would help at ALL, you can test me," Nanny said, almost hesitantly. "Of course, it might not be the same one, for sure, sure, sure... but... I... I have a rare blood type, I've been told."

"As do I," Wilkes said, taking Nanny's hand to give her confidence. "Don't know if they'll TAKE my blood, with all my health problems, but they're welcome to it! It has kept ME alive for over sixty years!"

"I can give blood, too, since mine is rare as well," Catherine said, the only one who really understood the dangers that all three accident victims were in.

"Count me in. If they want it, they can have it," Robert chimed in, a trifle less enthusiastically. He wasn't against donating blood, as such... he just really hated the needle. "I've got what is supposedly a universal blood type!"

The doctors came in and began speaking to Clarisse, after being assured that they COULD speak in the presence of the others. In fact, when Clarisse revealed to them that Catherine was a paediatric cardiologist, they were delighted.

"If you are willing, we would appreciate it if you could examine Miss Kutaway sometime in the next few days," one of the men said. "It seems she is a few months pregnant, and might lose the baby.... Miss Kutaway's age is against her, but we'll do our best, of course. We are trying to monitor the foetus' heartbeat..."

"Of course, if you think..." Catherine began.

"Pregnant!" Clarisse broke in, then she stopped. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be surprised but... Charlotte?"

"You are certain that neither Miss Kutaway nor Mr. Marsh have family who could be tested? There is a problem with some of their other organs as well..." another doctor asked, frustration at her inability to instantly cure her patients vivid in her expression.

"Not that anyone is aware of. Not in Genovia, at any rate. I understand their parents are dead and neither has siblings." Joseph stated when Clarisse said nothing, still stunned by the thought that Charlotte was pregnant. "Neither is a Genovian native, although Charl... Miss Kutaway has lived here since she was a child. She was born in Canada, if I remember correctly. I believe her parents died when she was young, so she was actually raised in the Pyrus orphanage, but she said something once about not knowing who her parents REALLY were. Sha... Mr. Marsh joined our security team in San Francisco six years ago, and his background check revealed that he had no knowledge of his birth parents."

No one noticed that Catherine had paled slightly upon hearing that the young man had come from California. She couldn't help but think of the time she had miscarried while in California. Had she had a boy or a girl? Yet again, she vainly wished she had demanded to see the child so that she would at least have known the sex. From what she had heard, this Shades had to be about the same age as that child would have been....

"That's a real shame," one doctor sighed. "Their medical condition really requires immediate family members... well, we'll see what we can do with what we have."

The doctors were all delighted when the four visitors volunteered to be tested as possible donors, and immediately called in a technician to take the blood. Robert gritted his teeth and looked away as the needle went in, and, in spite of the gravity of the situation, all the others had to laugh at his grimace. Joseph and Clarisse, having given blood soon after the accident, were spared having to donate again. After being told that Helen was going to stay with her daughter, the six retreated to the palace with Patrick and the couple's young son, Trevor. The palace housekeeper, Mrs. Cowt, indicated that she would show Patrick to the suite that had been prepared for him and his family, and with a tired smile and murmured thanks, Mia's stepfather took his son and retired.

Clarisse led the way into the library in the royal palace in Genovia, now every bit as silent as sombre and silent as after the deaths of King Rupert and Prince Philippe, Joseph noted absently. Nanny, looking at the others, could hardly believe that she was accepted so readily as one of them. Almost a year of marriage to an English peer had gone a long way towards bolstering her confidence, but deep down she still felt that she was interacting with people who were all 'above her station'. She held Wilkes' hand tightly, once again marvelling at the miracle that had had him fall in love with HER, a simple nanny! For both of them, real love had snuck up on them at an age when they had begun to feel convinced that love had passed them by or forgotten about them.

Nanny had had a hazy, half-forgotten interlude in the distant past which she was certain had resulted in the child she had given up, but no relationships since had even come close to being termed 'romantic love' until she had met Wilkes at the Plaza. Eloise had contrived to get them together for their first few dates then had managed to send Nanny to Genovia with Wilkes where they had learned more about each other and fallen firmly and irrevocably in love. And it had been that first trip to Genovia that had introduced Nanny to Charlotte, the young woman who had been Clarisse's personal assistant... the young woman Nanny loved dearly. Charlotte had been her first friend in Genovia, the one to explain gently to her the very first night that Sir Wilkes' old friend Clarisse was really QUEEN Clarisse of Genovia. And now Charlotte was pregnant! She simply had, had, HAD to be all right, and Shades' baby, too... because Nanny knew that Charlotte and Shades had clandestinely married three months ago, while visiting New York City. Shades, as the Head of Security for the royal family of Genovia, was subject to the royal family's formal approval for marriage by an ancient law that had not yet been repealed as so many other old Genovian laws HAD been. Nanny and Wilkes both knew the young couple had been waiting until Christmas to tell Queen Mia, Clarisse and Joseph, and Sebastian Motaz as Prime Minister, and Nanny had no intentions of telling anyone while there was still the possibility that one or both would live to reveal the secret themselves. She and Wilkes had quietly discussed this on the way over in the plane and had agreed to say nothing.

"Charlotte and Shades will live, Nanny. They HAVE to..." Wilkes' words finally penetrated Nanny's mind and she realized she had been squeezing her husband's hand much too tightly... much, much, much!

"And the baby..." Catherine spoke huskily through her own remembered pain. She had never met the young couple presently fighting for their lives in the hospital, but any time a baby was concerned, especially one who might require her services, she couldn't help but be involved.

Clarisse clung to Joseph, looking lost and bewildered. Now that she was alone with her friends, her exhaustion and anxiety were plainly showing on her face. "How could it have happened? It was in the same place as Philippe's horrible accident! Two terrible accidents in six years are two too many! Why has nothing been done...?"

Seeing Robert's questioning gaze, Joseph explained briefly about Philippe's death in a multiple car crash which had happened only a few months after his father's sudden illness and death.

"This is NOT the way we should be getting together, tragedy is NOT the best way by any means, but if we can be of any comfort at all, I'm glad we're here," Robert said gruffly.

At last Clarisse stood up and rubbed her temples tiredly. "I am going to have to come up with something to say for the press. They want a statement tonight..."

"Be as vague as every hospital is... everything possible is being done for Mia, and she's doing as well as can be expected," Joseph drew his wife close and kissed her cheek softly.

Clarisse smiled and stroked his cheek. "But what will I say about..." and she waved vaguely towards their friends.

"Do you have to say anything?" Robert asked gruffly. "None of their da–, uh, business!" Catherine had quickly nudged him into cutting off his word.

"You will have been seen coming from the airport... and Nanny and Wilkes are quite well-known in Genovia now. Add a mirror image of Clarisse," Joseph looked at Catherine, "and the country will be demanding answers. Not," he added with a tight smile, "that it IS any of their damn business."

O o O o O o

Later, after the media had left the palace, the six friends once more gathered together in the library drinking their tea. The four from America were beginning to droop, the time change, long travel and the emotional roller coaster they had been on taking its toll on them.

Clarisse was still talking about how the media, after being assured that Queen Amelia would recover in time, had concentrated on finding out exactly who Nanny and Catherine were, and how they were related to the royal family. "Quite a few people seem to think that we are one person!" she exclaimed, shaking her head at the foolishness.

Pulled from her worry about Charlotte by Clarisse's words, Nanny asked, puzzled. "You mean, like carbon copies?"

Catherine added dryly, "Or clones?"

Clarisse chuckled lightly at the two questions, then sighed. "No. More like roles or characters of an actress or something. I'm not really sure."

"To be honest, I think anyone who knows you can see the differences instantly," Joseph said.

"Except when you're reacting fast, like last New Year's Eve." Catherine reminded him, with a wry smile, of the moment at midnight when Robert and Joseph both had grabbed the wrong woman to kiss.

"I still haven't forgiven you for assaulting me, your Majesty!" Robert grimaced at Clarisse who smirked back at him.

"Three women so very similar, yet so very different at the same time... perhaps because of your pasts?" mused Wilkes.

Clarisse had had a very privileged childhood, being the only daughter of Genovia's prime minister with a grandfather who was a British earl. Her first marriage to an older Rupert had seen her happily married but not in love with her husband. She had withstood the tragedies of losing a husband and son and was now faced with the slim possibility of losing her grand-daughter and even the country since there were no more Renaldi heirs unless Pierre revoked his abdication, were that possible. The von Trokens were already starting to make waves in the country, Joseph had heard and informed his wife, saying that if anything WERE to happen to Amelia, Prince Pierre's continued absence would likely disqualify him, and the Renaldi stranglehold on Genovia would finally be at an end. What Joseph had kept to himself for the last twenty-four hours were the suspicions now being bruited about that perhaps Prince Pierre was not really a Renaldi... that Rupert had NOT been Pierre's biological father, and that was why he had been encouraged to abdicate for his younger sibling. Joseph had ALSO heard the rumours that Pierre was HIS, but seeing that Joseph hadn't been in Genovia from his tenth birthday until his return when Pierre was almost forty years old, those were not very plausible.

Nanny, in contrast to Clarisse, had NOT had a happy nor a privileged childhood. After her parents' death when she had been eight years old, she had lived first in an orphanage, then had run away at the age of seventeen from a post as a maid to live on the streets of London. Just after her eighteenth birthday, she had met Joseph and her life had started to take a turn for the better as he had set himself up as her protector. He had contrived for her to get the post as nanny to an infant Kay, and she had not seen him again until their meeting in Genovia the previous year. As a young nanny, she had arrived in New York City and had agreed to go to Montreal to take a 'nanny' course for a week with other young women... and while there had attended the ship's party which had been the catalyst for all the events that had followed. Still, through all that had happened to her during her life, Nanny had remained cheerful, optimistic and full of the love of life.

Catherine had a past much closer to Clarisse's than Nanny's, and she had reacted in much the same way to adversity as Clarisse had, namely she had built a protective shell around herself and shut out as much of the world as she could. She had had a wonderful childhood, and had married Tom right out of high school. Unlike Clarisse, Catherine had been very much in love with her husband and her marriage to an older man had been a very happy one aside from the fact that she had never been able to bring a child to term. Seeing Catherine's unhappiness after her second miscarriage, her parents had encouraged her to become a paediatric cardiologist, which had become a fulfilling and rewarding career for her. Adding to the tragedy of not being able to have children when she had wanted them so desperately, Tom had become sick and she had had to watch him die, being helpless to do anything but stay with him. Until Robert had almost literally crashed into her life, she had abdicated from really 'living', only going through the motions necessary for survival. With Robert, she had found that miracles, second chances, CAN happen, and she had learned to live and love life once more.

The three men in the room were all VERY different. Joseph was a native Genovian who also had been orphaned early, which was why he had been able to relate so easily to Nanny when they were teenagers, and to Charlotte and Shades as an adult. He was well-travelled, having left London a few years after Nanny, and had gone to America where he had met Robert, then had gone into the security business and travelled all over Europe. Through sheer willpower and force of character, he was soon was tops in his field. On one of his special assignments in Puerto Rico ten years previously, he had saved King Rupert's life and had been invited to come back to Genovia as part of the security team there. It was then that he had met Queen Clarisse. Joseph had always had the reputation of being a ladies' man but had never felt the need to tie himself down before meeting Clarisse and had never felt the urge to be with another woman AFTER meeting her. For her part, Clarisse had begun to fall in love with Joseph a year after Rupert's death. She had missed Rupert desperately those first few months after his death, and had begun to rely more and more on Joseph... then after they had admitted their love and desire for each other, and especially after their marriage, Clarisse had realized fully what she had been denied all those years with Rupert. For the first time, she was very much in love with someone who loved her deeply. For Joseph's part, he was happier than he had ever truly believed possible.

Robert was from a middle-class family in the United States. He had married his highschool sweetheart, MaryBeth, just out of school and they had been very happy. Robert was a typical hard-working, good man. He had been devastated when MaryBeth had been diagnosed with Alzheimers, but they had fought the disease together as long as they could. Near the end, he hadn't been even considering another relationship, but Catherine had snuck into his heart that one special night and now he couldn't imagine his life without her. He had confessed to Joseph that, although he had fought against admitting it, he had fallen in love with Catherine at their first meeting. His daughter Lori had mentioned that she could see incredible chemistry between them, but Robert had just laughed at her, telling her that there is "a rhythm with certain people, and ours just clicks.'' The two of them shared a similar sense of humour and their slightly dry repartee made the couple a force to be reckoned with.

Wilkes' privileged childhood as the only son of a peer had been quite lonely as his one sister was the elder by twelve years. Indeed, his sole childhood friend had been Clarisse, who had been in England just for a few weeks each summer. When he had been a young man, his father had told Wilkes to get out and get a job, to learn to be a 'real' man, and that job had given him many experiences and taught him much. Indeed, for one brief night he had thought himself in love, but had been torn away by circumstances beyond his control before being allowed to explore the possibilities. In his mid-twenties, Wilkes had gone to university and had received his business degree, dedicating himself to his work after that. Then he had found himself alone in the world in his fifties. At that point in his life, he had remembered the one woman who had intrigued him long ago, and he had begun searching for her half-heartedly, convinced he would never recognize her even if he DID happen to meet up with her again! Three years ago he had come to New York City on business and met Nanny through Eloise. Something about the woman caught his interest, something more than her vibrant personality, but it wasn't until he saw her struggles to cope with vacationing in Genovia last year, feeling desperately out of her class, that inwardly he had become convinced that she was the one woman for him. Nanny gave meaning and depth to his life which had become staid and boring. He had meant to tell her about that night so long ago, but it now seemed foolish and so vague that he hadn't made the attempt.

"Oh, knickers!" Nanny said aloud, finally, breaking through the pensive thoughts of all six. "I absolutely cannot think about this anymore! I don't know about the rest of you, but I must, must, MUST go to bed and get some sleep!"

Clarisse uncharacteristically flushed. It had been a very long and trying twenty-four hours, but she felt she should have realized how the travellers would feel. "I'll ring for Mrs. Cowt, she can show you all your rooms. I'm so sorry I haven't been a good hostess...."

"Clarisse, you've been wonderful, and we understand," Catherine assured her, the others nodding their agreement.

O o O o O o

The next morning, everyone gathered at the breakfast table after asking and receiving the news of how the patients had fared over night. Helen and Patrick hurried Trevor through their meal, then headed for the hospital. It was agreed that since neither Charlotte nor Shades were conscious, it didn't seem necessary for the others to go. Clarisse and Joseph headed over to see Mia for a short time after Clarisse had worked through some of the messages which had come to the palace needing immediate responses. Wilkes and Nanny showed Robert and Catherine around the gardens and all agreed that if they had to go anywhere for a holiday, the Genovian royal palace was an excellent place to visit.

Lunch was a quiet affair, as Clarisse remained at the hospital with Mia while Joseph had come back to the palace to do some more investigating into what had gone so terribly wrong on the route back from Mertz. Then a sober Clarisse joined them for a late tea in the library. Mrs. Cowt had turned on the television, and while they sipped on tea and coffee, they watched Eggs with Elsie, a re-hashing of the media interview Clarisse had given the night before. Although the speculation was high as to why two other women who looked identical to Queen Clarisse were in Genovia, Clarisse hadn't commented on the resemblance in her interview. Elsie Kentworthy made a few suggestive comments as to who the women might be, audibly wondering if they were all really the Queen who was dressing in different outfits for reasons of her own.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "I told you. As if I'm an actress or something."

"Maybe a spy?" Joseph chuckled.

Just then a knock came at the door, and a young girl stepped into the room and curtsied, looking shyly at Clarisse before she realized that the other two women in the room looked enough like Clarisse to render the girl totally confused. Then she took a breath and looked back at Clarisse, who was, of course, sitting beside Joseph. "Forgive me for bothering you all, your Majesty, but there is a call from the hospital. The doctor is asking to speak to you..."

Almost before the maid had finished speaking, Clarisse had moved over to the telephone on the sideboard and picked it up. Everyone was tense until Clarisse herself relaxed a little and said, "I don't understand. Family? I see. Yes, we're all here. We'll be waiting for you. Thank you."

She slowly put the receiver down, then turned to the others. "He wants to come to the palace right away. They've got some of the blood test results back, and have some news for us. Something about family and blood. I didn't quite understand... the doctor was quite excited. Charlotte and Shades are no better, but the doctor seems to think that with the blood available now, the two have a good chance of survival!"

O o O o O o

After the doctor had been introduced to the two couples from America, the six older adults stood in the library, listening to the medical jargon he was spouting. Only Catherine fully understood him, and her face had gone white. The man continued speaking, blandly unaware of the tangled emotions of those struggling to comprehend his words.

"Therefore, based on the various tests done so far, we have concluded that you, Madam," and the doctor nodded to a frozen Nanny, "are the biological mother of Miss Kutaway, and YOU, Madam," this time he nodded to an equally astonished Catherine who had assumed Clarisse would have been indicated, "are Mr. Marsh's biological mother. And Miss Kutaway's biological father is..." Before he could more than glance at Joseph whose jaw had flexed grimly, the doctor's cell phone rang. "Oh, please, excuse me... I'm waiting to hear the results of some DNA tests we also did, which should prove these deductions conclusively." He turned away to speak quietly into the phone, leaving six stunned people lost in their own worlds.

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ To be continued.....


	3. Chapter 3

After the doctor's astounding revelations, Wilkes swayed slightly and sat down. He couldn't look at Joseph. Surely this information PROVED that Joseph and Nanny had, well... had been very deeply and romantically involved when they were young... closer than either had actually confessed to being. They had had a CHILD together and that child was most probably Charlotte, however that could possibly have come about. Nanny had never mentioned the father of her baby, of course, but she had never mentioned anyone else from that time of her life! Joseph simply HAD to be the father of Nanny's child, in Wilkes' mind. Wilkes groaned inwardly and clenched his fists. He liked Joseph, but he wanted to KILL him for having left Nanny pregnant and alone, having to give up her baby for adoption and suffer all these years wondering about the baby, while the man had blissfully lived his life not even aware of the possibility!

Clarisse didn't know what to think. She, too, had clenched her fists, and she, too, was convinced that Joseph had to be Charlotte's father. Hadn't he said that he had known Nanny when they were teenagers? Why had he never said anything about having fathered a child? Could it be that he had never known? Would Nanny have kept that from him? Why? Clarisse didn't want to admit that knowing he and Nanny had been lovers hurt her very deeply. After all, she had been married and had had two children with Rupert, and Joseph had not even known her until ten years ago, but... it still hurt. Instinctively her eyes sought Joseph, but his thoughts were turned inward and for perhaps the first time in their relationship, he didn't see her. Next Clarisse looked at her old friend, Wilkes. How must HE feel? He had to know, too, that Joseph and Nanny...

Clarisse sat down abruptly beside Wilkes and took his hand, whispering fiercely to him, "You think it's Joseph, too, don't you? He SWORE he and Nanny were only very good friends, but... Oh, Wilkes!" She clutched Wilkes closely, and he awkwardly patted her back. He was very fond of Clarisse, and had been since meeting her as a child, but it was NANNY he wanted in his arms, assuring him that she loved HIM, no matter WHO was the father of her long-lost-now-seemingly-found daughter!

Joseph found his thoughts whirling. Nanny had had a baby? Knowing Charlotte's age and place of birth from her dossier, Joseph couldn't conceive of how Nanny could possibly be Charlotte's mother! Nanny had just left England for New York City nine months before Charlotte had been born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada! If Nanny WAS her mother, what had she been doing in Canada? And WHO was the father? Nanny had not been promiscuous, for all her wild ways... so who had she loved enough to...? He looked over to where his wife and her old friend were hugging on the sofa and caught his breath, knowing what both Clarisse and Wilkes must be thinking. Nine months after Nanny had been with Joseph? Had Nanny had JOSEPH'S child? Was Charlotte JOSEPH'S daughter? NO! Surely not! There had only been that one night.... He glanced over at Nanny.

For her part, Nanny could only hear the doctor's voice endlessly repeating in her mind. "You, Madam, are the biological mother of Miss Kutaway." She hadn't heard anything he had said after that. Charlotte was her baby daughter! HERS! Oh my Lord, CHARLOTTE was her baby! It was almost too much to take in! After all these years, by a miracle almost too impossible to believe, she had found the baby who had to have been conceived that night so long ago when she had recklessly agreed to accompany newfound friends to a ship's party in Montreal. There she had been introduced to William, who had listened to her story about her hurried departure from England and had sympathized, saying he himself had left home to go to sea in an attempt to make something of himself.

That night she had had enough to drink that when William, who ALSO had had too much to drink, had begun to kiss her, neither had been able to stop the passion that had exploded between them. She had never seen the young sailor since, his ship having left the dock the next morning and her friends already having taken her back to the hospital dormitory where they had been staying while on course for a week. Nanny's recollection of that night was very hazy, but strangely, it was now that Nanny realized that Eloise's friend Bill at the Plaza had reminded her so strongly of 'her' William that she had called Bill that ever since she had first met him. And CHARLOTTE was the result of that 'indiscretion'!! It was absolutely incredible!

Knowing that Joseph would have the information she craved about Charlotte, Nanny looked over at him, to find him eyeing her strangely. Oh my Lord! He couldn't possibly think HE was Charlotte's father... could he? After all, that last night they had... No! All these years, she had been certain that the young sailor she had known for only four hours was the father of her child. Her mind unwillingly went back to that long-ago night when William had lain beside her as their breathing slowed and for the first time she remembered their short conversation.

"_I must say, I find it rawther hard to believe this happened," she had whispered at last. "I'm... I'm usually a GOOD girl, I am!"_

"_Do you want an apology?" William had asked._

"_No," Nanny had answered starkly. It had been the most wonderful experience of her life thus far, for Lord's sake, but how had she allowed herself to be so carried away? It was not like her at all, for sure, sure, sure! Then after a moment, she had added, "I wanted it as much as you did, apparently. I just can't imagine WHY. We don't even know each other, and it appears that we're about as opposite as any two people can get!"_

"_Perhaps you are right. Still, we just discovered one way we ARE compatible. VERY compatible, I should say. I want to see you again, Anne." His hand had trailed over her bare shoulder, and his lips followed the tingling path._

"_Oh, please..." she had moaned, thinking he hadn't even remembered her name properly. She had pushed him away, pulling on her clothes with numbed fingers. _

_Then her friends had converged on them and had swept her back to their rooms, leaving William behind... forever. Three months later, a dismayed and distraught Nanny had had to admit to herself that she was pregnant. When she had finally gotten up the nerve to tell her employers, when she was beginning to show at five months, Kay's parents had taken their frightened young nanny under their wing, and had arranged for her to go to Hamilton, Ontario, to Kay's aunt. The paperwork had all been done in short order, and when Nanny had given birth to her child, she had signed the adoption papers without ever being allowed to hear anything about the baby, not even the sex. Then she had gone back to New York City, sadder and wiser, feeling infinitely older, and had resumed her duties with the toddler, Kay. From that time until two days ago, she had never said a word to anyone about the entire nine-month period of her life, and indeed had done her best to pretend to herself that it had never happened. It hurt too much to remember. _

"Joseph?" Nanny almost whimpered now, and he put his arm around her and held her close.

"She will love knowing you are her mother," Joseph said in an undertone, focussing on the happy ending which just HAD to be, if indeed there was a God! Charlotte could not possibly die!

"I was told the baby had DIED!" Catherine was insisting in a bewildered voice. "It was so early... I was only six months along... My God... I have a SON! WHY would Tom have told me the baby had died? I don't understand..." She remembered that afternoon so vividly... the pain she had been in while in labour, her tears as Tom had brokenly apologized for asking her to go on the hike with him in view of the 'tragic' results... the desolation at knowing that the tiny body that had been born through pain and blood hadn't had a chance to live, just like the baby before it. Her personality had changed that day. She had become more brittle, more protective of herself... as Tom had accused her angrily one day, she had become a shell of the vibrant woman he had married. It had taken Tom's death and then Robert's advent into her life to bring her back to the person she had been meant to be all along. And now, on top of the miracle of a second chance at love, she found that she was a mother after all? It was almost too much to take in!

"Maybe Tom gave you the only information HE got. Maybe he didn't lie deliberately." Robert hated himself for the jealousy he still occasionally felt when Catherine talked about the husband she had loved so much, so he forced himself to offer excuses for the dead man. Then he added urgently, not realizing that she was lost in her memories and not really listening to him or anyone, "Catherine, you shouldn't be asking questions about how or WHY it happened! You should be rejoicing that you have found a son you never knew you had!"

Robert was thrilled for Catherine, knowing how deeply she had mourned her supposed inability to have children, but it was a cautious happiness because that the longed-for child lay so gravely injured in the hospital. Would his wife never know the joy of speaking with and hugging her own son? And what if this young man turned out to be a little sh*t like his former son-in-law, Jeff? After all, he knew nothing about this 'Shades' person. What the hell kind of name was SHADES, anyway? Robert forced his mind back to his wife, wishing he could share her emotions and hold her as Wilkes was holding Clarisse and Joseph was holding Nanny... "WAIT A MINUTE!" he blurted out, trying to understand and accept the mis-matched couples he was seeing.

The doctor had just turned back to the small group at Robert's exclamation when his phone rang again. He answered, let out a loud expletive, then literally ran out of the room without saying a word to anyone. Startled, the six left in the room looked around at each other, having been brought back to their present surroundings from their various pasts.

Catherine and Nanny, unable to relax because of the unbelievable news that they were both mothers when well over thirty years had passed since they had thought their babies were lost forever, began to pace. Clarisse, too, was floored that the two new friends who looked so much like her were the mothers of the young woman who had been her personal aide and the man who had taken over Joseph's position as Head of Security for the royal family of Genovia. After a long time of silence while everyone digested the startling information, all agreed that it was bedtime.

O o O o O o

In their respective beds that night, no one felt much like talking to their spouse... and no one slept very well if at all. Knowing that Mia was on the mend had relieved one worry, but now first and foremost in their minds was deep concern for the lives of Charlotte, Shades and the unborn child. The underlying fears of each were very different.

Clarisse found herself unwillingly worrying less about whether or not Charlotte and Shades would survive than what she, Clarisse, would do or feel if Joseph and Nanny were indeed Charlotte's parents. What might Charlotte think if she found out that Joseph was her father? What if the knowledge turned Charlotte against Joseph? What if it made her hate Nanny? What if, Clarisse almost caught her breath at this possibility, what if Charlotte wanted Joseph to get together with Nanny again? Worse, what if JOSEPH wanted to be with Nanny? What if he had only fallen in love with her, Clarisse, because of her illusive likeness to his first love, Nanny? Clarisse knew logically these thoughts were ridiculous... she KNEW Charlotte would be delighted to find her parents and wouldn't question their present relationships, she KNEW Joseph loved HER, and she KNEW Nanny adored Wilkes... but an insidious question still wove through her brain. She hadn't been able to squash it since hearing the doctor's announcement. What if Joseph and Nanny wanted to get together again?

Wilkes worried about the same thing, knowing he couldn't possibly compete with the history Joseph and Nanny had, not to mention the dashing figure Joseph cut in comparison to HIM. He knew he was stodgy, drab and dull, a very uninteresting person beside Joseph. He was sure that Nanny loved him, but was it possibly mostly gratitude to him for having loved HER in spite of her circumstances? Given the chance, would Nanny prefer to be with Joseph, her first love? After all, she had loved him enough to have his baby long ago... a baby now grown into a lovely young woman who was fighting for her life in the hospital just a few miles away. Wilkes could feel the stress mounting, his heart pounding and the thumps as his pacemaker tried to regulate the heartbeat.

Joseph longed to talk to Clarisse about his anxieties when it came to the young couples' survival and the resultant impact on themselves, their friends and the country as a whole. He was also very concerned about Nanny's state of mind if Charlotte or her baby (and WAS Shades the father of Charlotte's baby?) didn't make it – he remembered all too well how agitated and stressed she had been when Wilkes had been hospitalized at Christmas. Joseph wondered about that and worried about Nanny's reactions, not to mention what they all would do if it turned out by some freak that he WAS the father of Nanny's baby. Would Clarisse ever forgive him for having assured her that there had been nothing serious between him and Nanny? Would Wilkes turn to Clarisse for comfort? Would Nanny want Joseph to... no, Nanny had assured him repeatedly that she had never loved HIM... she loved Wilkes with all her heart. If Wilkes couldn't accept that Joseph and Nanny had fathered a child, and repudiated Nanny, Nanny would be devastated. If, and Joseph's breath almost failed him, if Clarisse couldn't accept that he and Nanny had fathered a child and turned away from him, HE would be devastated!

Nanny was still trying to reconcile the astounding possibility that the young woman she adored could really be her daughter. She also couldn't help but worry about what Wilkes must be thinking about her, obviously having been such a wanton hussy when young, for Lord's sake! Yes, he had SAID he had known she had had relationships before him, but being faced with a living, breathing consequence of such a relationship, how would her husband react now? Oh, surely Charlotte WOULD be living and breathing for a long, long, long time to come. She absolutely HAD to be all right! And although Nanny had been certain all these years that William had been the father of her child, what if Joseph really was Charlotte's father? Clarisse would never forgive her, Nanny! And Wilkes, poor dear Wilkes would be crushed. What if he spurned her? What if she killed his love because of these disclosures of events from nearly forty ago? Oh, it was all too, too, TOO much to think about!

Catherine lay perfectly still and went over and over her memories of that day long ago in California, trying to figure out where the mistake had been made and whether or not it had been deliberate on SOMEONE'S part. She had a SON? HERE? In GENOVIA? She had had to travel half-way around the world before miraculously finding the child she had thought had never taken a breath... and now he was critically ill. Would he survive these injuries? As the Head of Security for the royal family, he had been travelling in the front seat and had taken much of the impact of the crash... WOULD he survive long enough for her to meet him? To get to know him? What was he like? Did he look like her, or did he resemble Tom? Oh, if ONLY she had known about her son before this! If only she had demanded to see the child she had been told had died... Instead, she had pleaded with Tom to keep everyone away from her, to take her home, away from the horrors of a second miscarriage... and Tom had quietly and efficiently done as she had demanded. Likely HE had never been told the child still lived either. Suddenly Catherine went cold inside. HAD they told her the baby was dead? Somehow she remembered a young nurse saying callously, "Born so early, babies rarely survive, you know... and yours isn't even breathing..." Her blind assumptions and fury at fate had not only cheated HER of knowing her child, but Tom as well, and now he would never know he had fathered a son.

Robert wanted to stay awake for his wife, knowing her longing for a child and what she must be feeling finding out that the child she had never known was alive, but possibly only for a very short time. In spite of his desire to be there for Catherine, however, and in spite of his confusion over the events that had unfolded today, one thing he knew for damn sure was that it had been a very long, stressful day. Robert quickly succumbed to the waves of sleep crashing over him.

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ To be continued.......


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, everyone was up early and eager to get to the hospital to find out some answers. Joseph had checked the files in the security office on both Charlotte and Shades, discovering where each had been born, and finding that both had 'parents unknown' listed. Now he took a moment to sit silently with the papers in front of him. The two younger people meant a great deal to him, but it had never occurred to him that he might have a blood relationship to Charlotte! Remembering that Charlotte was pregnant, it didn't take much pondering to realize that the baby was probably Shades'. The two had been getting closer and closer over the years. Joseph was happy for Shades, knowing that the younger man's first marriage had ended in divorce after only a few years. Shades had worn a wedding ring ever since beginning work at the palace... although, now that Joseph thought about it, it had been a DIFFERENT wedding ring for the last three months... since his vacation... which had been the same time as Charlotte's... could the two have married at that time?

Joseph was notified that the others were up and awaiting him at the breakfast table. They didn't talk much amongst each other, but their worries from the night before had not gone away with the morning light. When they all got to the hospital, Clarisse, Joseph, Helen and Patrick were quickly ushered in to Mia's room. Trevor had been left at the palace in the care of Brigitte and Brigitta, who doted on the child. Nanny, Wilkes, Catherine and Robert all sat in the same private lounge they had been in before, and waited for the doctors who were to come shortly. Clarisse and Joseph joined them after a few minutes, pleased because Mia had spoken to them and was already asking where Nicholas was and demanding to be let out of the hospital, broken leg and ribs notwithstanding.

Joseph passed on what he had garnered from his search that morning, first stating Charlotte's date of birth and that she had been born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Nanny nodded almost jerkily. This news confirmed the miracle much more than the doctor's statement about the blood tests! Wilkes experienced a very strange feeling of disappointment. He had never been to Ontario, never heard of Hamilton... yet he realized now he had been harbouring a very, very, VERY faint hope that Charlotte was HIS child. Just thinking that had made him snort inwardly in disgust at himself. If Charlotte was his, that would mean that he had made love to Nanny all those years ago – and he KNEW he had not met her until three years ago! Still, Charlotte HAD been born almost nine months to the day after his night in Montreal... and he rather thought Quebec was the province next to Ontario....

When Joseph gave Shades' date and place of birth, Catherine bit her lip and tears filled her eyes. He WAS her son! By some miracle she still could not understand, she had a son! Like Nanny, she believed the dates and places almost more than the mystery of the blood, yet as a woman of science, she KNEW that although facts could be distorted, especially over a period of more than thirty years, the truth often lay in the DNA tests.

Then the team of doctors arrived, and everyone realized they were on the edge of their seats, needing to hear more. The doctors updated them on the patients' condition, adding that they were hopeful that with blood transfusions from their individual parents, some of the critical conditions could be alleviated. With permission of those in question, the transfusions would take place that very afternoon. Other tests had to be carried out, as well, if everyone agreed.

No one was quite sure afterwards WHO had asked the fateful question. "Please... who do you believe is Charlotte's father?"

The doctor who had been at the palace the previous evening looked surprised, staring at Joseph for so long that he began to think it HAD to be him, despite his conviction to the contrary. At last the doctor's gaze went to Robert, then Wilkes. "I didn't tell you the other night? Dreadfully sorry. I suppose I assumed that, er, Lady Nanny would have told you before this. The tests have shown that the father of Miss Kutaway is Sir Wilkes." Again he looked from Robert to Wilkes, obviously at a loss as to who was who.

Robert held up his hands in defence. "God forbid! I really don't need another daughter! How the hell would I explain THAT to Lori and Jaclyn? No, it's not me! It's him!" and he pointed at Wilkes.

Wilkes felt almost faint, the doctor's words still ringing in his ears. He WAS Charlotte's father? Yes, the timing might have been right, but, but... it was IMPOSSIBLE! He had not met Nanny until three years ago, there was no WAY that he... A thump and sudden flurry amongst the group of doctors, Catherine included, alerted Wilkes to the fact that Nanny had collapsed.

At the doctor's statement that Wilkes was Charlotte's father, Clarisse had choked out, "Oh Joseph, I'm so terribly sorry for my thoughts..." and she had hugged Joseph tightly.

Joseph, now feeling as if a huge weight had just fallen from him, returned her hug, following it up with a few passionate kisses. It was Robert's exclamation, "Nanny!" that brought them both back to awareness of their surroundings.

Wilkes knelt beside his wife who was responding to the doctors' ministrations by opening her eyes. She stared wildly at Wilkes, paying no attention to any of the others. "How? How could it be? The name was... was WILLIAM!"

"You... you never said... you had been... in Montreal!" Wilkes stammered. "All that was mentioned was Hamilton, where the baby was born..."

Nanny gasped. How had he known that the baby had been conceived in Montreal? My sainted Aunt Fanny, she thought dazedly, Willy MUST have been there... he MUST be the father of my baby! She was mortified that she hadn't known... hadn't recognized him. But... but HOW had she made love to him all those years ago, and not recognized him since? HOW was that possible? The others must think she was a complete IDIOT, for Lord's sake!

The doctors tactfully withdrew at this point, and the other four stepped back to give Wilkes and Nanny a bit of privacy. They were all astonished by the news, but privately admitted that they simply HAD to hear the details from Nanny and Wilkes for themselves. Nanny and Wilkes began talking brokenly to each other and soon their words ran faster, more intensely, more deeply felt... in a way, clumsier.

"The sailor's name was William..." Nanny insisted again, not willing to believe what she knew had to be true. "I went to a party on a ship when I was in Montreal and... and his name was not, not, NOT Wilkes! My stars, stars, stars, I should think I would have known if it was you..." her voice trailed away. She would NOT have known... she had had too much to drink that long-ago night to see straight let alone remember what the man had looked like. All she remembered was how easy it had been to talk with him, and how their talking had led very quickly into lovemaking.... "But it was so long ago, for Lord's sake," she concluded faintly.

Wilkes shook his head, stunned by the news that he HAD known Nanny years ago. "I was working on a ship... everyone called me Will. The night we docked in Montreal for just the one night, the crew called the hospital, as usual, saying they were having a ship's party and would any of the nurses who wanted to come, come to the ship."

"I was in Montreal taking a course..." Nanny said faintly. "The others wanted me to go to the ship with them, and I did..."

"It was my birthday, so my crewmates decided to make me feel 'special' and just for that day they called me William instead of Will. They told me they would make sure I found a girl to 'show me a good time' at the party that night. I didn't bother correcting their notion of my name, since I had been ribbed enough at boarding school for my given name, and I had decided NOT to act if they DID find a girl for me. I didn't keep my inward vow. Instead, I did something I rarely do, and drank far more than I should have so that my guard was down..."

"I had had much too much to drink, too... I wasn't thinking straight either, for Lord's sake."

Wilkes helped Nanny up and they sat close together on a sofa, still not acknowledging their quiet audience. Wilkes stroked Nanny's hair soothingly as he said, "I thought your friends had called you Anne... that was how I've thought of you since... when I thought of you," he added shamefacedly. "You were so sweet, and, well, one thing led to another, and, well... it had happened. I was suffering from a bad hangover and in sickbay when we had left the dock the next morning." All Wilkes really remembered well about that night was that he HAD been with someone who had made him feel like a million dollars, he had had too much to drink and that he had had a fearful hangover the next morning. "Over the years, I've tried to find you, but, well, looking for an 'Anne' in Montreal is nigh on impossible! If only we hadn't had to depart so soon! If I hadn't felt so terrible that morning, I could have gone searching for you then!"

"I was not feeling too well myself... I even thought perhaps I had just dreamt the night... until three months later," Nanny confessed. She explained all that had happened after that, then was quiet for a moment, clinging to her husband. "Willy, I can hardly believe it... WE are Charlotte's parents! Oh, Willy, she absolutely HAS to live!" and the tears she had managed to contain thus far overflowed. Wilkes held her tightly as she sobbed, and unabashedly allowed his own tears to streak down his cheeks.

The four others, their own tears blinding them, slipped out of the room, leaving the two alone at last.

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ To be continued.....


	5. Chapter 5

The doctors had agreed amongst themselves that until Charlotte herself was stabilized, they were not going to perform heroic measures on the child beginning to grow in her womb. Besides, overnight it seemed that the baby had rallied. By mid afternoon, they HAD, however, received more test results back, thereby coming to the inescapable conclusion that the baby was Shades', thus tying the two patients inextricably to the three visitors to Genovia

Late that afternoon, Sebastian and Sheila Motaz were announced, and Clarisse insisted that the others all gather in the private lounge to meet with the Prime Minister and his wife over the meal that was brought to them there. Sebastian was very startled when introduced to Catherine. He took her hand when she held it out in a business-like fashion, but didn't release it while looking from her to Clarisse, then over to Nanny, back to Catherine and back to Clarisse.

Sheila chuckled and nudged him. "Get your eyeballs back in your head, Sebastian!" she hissed audibly.

When Clarisse informed him that Nanny was Charlotte's mother and Wilkes was her father, Sebastian almost swallowed his teeth in astonishment. "But... but I thought you two were just married last year... you WEREN'T married the first time you were here last spring, were you, Nanny?" he asked.

"Sebastian!" Sheila exclaimed, horrified. "What a question to ASK! I can't believe you tonight! And to think that you are the second leading diplomat in this country! Please, forgive him, Nanny, Wilkes... your Majesty..."

"It's all right," Nanny said, feeling completely drained after the astounding news that morning and her subsequent vigil at Charlotte's bedside. "Charlotte was born when we were very young, and as happens much too often, for sure, sure, sure, life's circumstances tore all three of us apart. Wilkes and I only met again a couple of years ago."

She had left out a great deal in that brief recitation of the facts, but Sebastian squeezed her hand and thanked for trusting him with the story. Then he said, eyeing the women critically, "I've already put my foot in my mouth, so I'm going to do it again. You three women just HAVE to be related!"

"They've done every kind of test you can think of, including DNA," Clarisse said, laughing softly, "and much though I would adore to say that they are my sisters, we are NOT related by blood."

"You're alike even down to your FRECKLES!" Sebastian declared, shaking his head.

Robert grinned. "They are indeed. And when they get an idea in their heads, watch out! The three of them can be hell on wheels when they get together! Why, just this past New Year's, they...."

"That's enough, Robert," Clarisse cut in smoothly. To Catherine's astonishment, Robert swallowed his words with difficulty, but his eyes continued to twinkle, and all three women knew he was remembering their tinsel-waving dance in the apartment in New York City when they had thought they were unobserved.

Sebastian and Sheila took their leave soon after eating, knowing that the others wanted to check on the patients once more before returning to the palace for the night. It had been another very, very long and trying day, and their emotions were still all tangled up after the revelations that had been made in the last few days.

As they walked back into the palace and Clarisse dismissed the maids who were hovering, Catherine looked over at the scented candles burning on a side table and suddenly remembered the fictitious couple she had created that Thanksgiving night in the cabin. "Robert? I bet you a thousand dollars you don't know what I'm thinking..."

Robert followed her gaze to the candles, as did the others, and he grinned. He knew, all right. "You want to play scrabble?" he inquired guilelessly.

"Among other things," Catherine nodded. "Good night, everyone."

"Do you want anything to eat before you go to bed?" Joseph asked politely, his eyes gleaming. "I'm certain there is a nice selection of ripe pears to whet your, er, appetite..."

"Oh, knickers, how could anyone eat anything after that huge supper?" Nanny rolled her eyes. "Good night!"

After a chorus of good nights in the hallway, they all disappeared into their own suites for the night.

O o O o O o

"Aoww, Willy, love," Nanny turned into his arms the moment they were alone in their suite. "I - I absolutely cannot believe that we met years ago in Montreal!"

His arms were tight around her, but he reddened slightly. "I must confess, I never truly thought of the possibility that I would be Charlotte's father. It seemed too... impossible to believe! I actually was certain that Jo..." His voice trailed off. Nanny's eyes widened in shock. Wilkes hastened to add, "I know you have said many times that you were just friends, but you were so young, Nanny... you said once that he was your first love, and, well, after meeting him that first time, I began to really wonder what you saw in ME." He hung his head shame-facedly. "I know that when women look at me, they generally dismiss me with just that glance... and yet I've seen them all gathering around to speak to Joseph or just eying him as if he were a piece of candy... Nanny, my love, it still amazes me that you have admired me from the first time we met at the Plaza... I find it so hard to accept, and I hope you know how much it means to me to have you by my side as my beloved wife...."

"Aoww, Willy, we both have been foolish... I worried so about Clarisse... and whether or not you didn't want me if I was, well, soiled... especially when you knew the man I had..."

"Tosh, tosh, tosh," he said softly, his lips touching hers. "Perhaps we should leave the past in the past, and celebrate our present?"

"Willy, I love you!" Nanny kissed him thoroughly and passionately. Anticipation and joy touched off a spark that sent fire dancing through her veins. "Willy, I want you to make love to me so I don't have to think anymore..."

"I can't think of anything I would rather do," he murmured, moaning faintly with the pleasure at her touch. "Nanny, my love...." he groaned huskily.

His hands moved over her, heat spiralled through her and all at once she was burning inside as well as outside and she wanted to be a part of him more than anything. Somehow their clothes fell away and they were on their bed, using their hands and lips to torment each other, to stroke and caress, to soothe and inflame.

In the aftermath of their extraordinary lovemaking, Nanny lay sprawled beside him, tangling her fingers lazily in the hairs on his chest. "I... I find I still cannot believe I didn't recognize you, Willy, from that night... in Montreal. Knickers, I feel so, so, so foolish now...."

"Well, my love, remember that I didn't recognize you either," he said, sweeping a hand over the curve of her hip. "I, too, feel very foolish. I find it remarkable... and miraculous... and wonderful... that we have found out now..." He punctuated his words with kisses.

Their love had swept away all the fears, jealousies, hurts and regrets, at least for the moment, and instead of lingering on their youthful follies, they rejoiced in what they had together now and what they HOPED to have when Charlotte, Shades AND the baby were well again - as they absolutely MUST be, for sure, sure, sure!

"It's so, so, so much easier to share the worrying, isn't it? I never truly realized how difficult it can be to be a mother. Our Charlotte WILL get well, won't she?" Nanny asked, knowing Wilkes knew no more than she did, but needing the reassurance once more.

"She must, must, MUST," Wilkes murmured sleepily. His exhaustion was taking over as his body relaxed further.

"Wilkes? Would it be possible for us to stay in Genovia for a while? At least until both Shades and Charlotte are recovered, but perhaps even until she has the baby? Our grandchild! Think of that!"

His only response was a light snore. Nanny smiled. Leaving her hand loosely held by his, she kissed his bare shoulder, and a completely irrelevant thought crossed her mind. It was absolutely marvellous that the two of them now felt so completely comfortable sleeping in the nude when they had both been secretly horrified at the thought before their marriage. Her last waking thought was of Charlotte and a fervent prayer that the woman she already loved as a daughter would regain perfect health.

O o O o O o

"You know, Catherine," Robert said from the bathroom where he had just finished cleaning his teeth. "If Charlotte survives, AND her unborn child, you'll be a GRANDMOTHER! That means you won't be able to tease me any more about you being too young to sleep with a grandpa!" When he stepped out of the bathroom, he caught his breath. Catherine had thrown back the covers and was stretched out naked on the bed.

"Love me, Robert," Catherine murmured, lifting her arms to welcome him into the bed. "I need you. I need your love to prove to me that I am still alive, that in spite of all the mistakes in my past, I am worthy of happiness... The candles were lit when we got to the palace, now let's skip the scrabble and go straight to making love."

It didn't take him long to shed his newly-donned pyjamas and come to her in a rush... skin against glorious skin. After only seconds, Catherine wasn't sure where she ended and he began... they were just one delirious, passionate creature: angles and curves, hills and hollows, rough but smooth, soft yet hard. Moving together, then apart, they trembled, ached, soared and finally ignited. Catherine was certain she had indeed found pleasure at its highest level and then there was nothing but the tidal wave of heat and need, lust and yearning, tenderness and compassion. She was aware of nothing but the taste of his lips, the feel of his hands and the bliss of his body driving hers until together they were catapulted into a sweet, hot oblivion.

When Robert could get his breath again, he grumbled good-naturedly, "They call it afterglow and they SHOULD call it afterBURN." He kissed Catherine's cheek so close to his. "Damn, but you burn me up, woman. Unlike your Robin and Charlie, we don't need the thousand candles when it comes to making love."

Catherine's 'mmmm' rumbled through him, but she didn't move.

"Are you going to sleep on me?" He ran his fingers down the curve of her spine, marvelling at how much he loved and admired this woman who had been a complete stranger just eight short months ago. How she could be so responsive after the last few days astounded and delighted him. "Catherine?"

There was no answer, only her deep, steady breathing.

"Damn," he muttered and adjusted her just a bit so his arm wouldn't go to sleep. Then he kissed her cheek lightly one more time. "I love you," he whispered. "I'm so happy that you're a mother at last..."

O o O o O o

"Joseph?" Clarisse asked tentatively, coming up to the bed where he was supine under the covers. "I... I'm so sorry that I... that I thought you and Nanny had... that I wondered if Nanny had meant more to you than you had said..."

His hand came out and clamped onto hers. She gave a little cry of surprise when he tugged and pulled her over onto the bed, then rolled onto her. "You were so jealous when you first found out that Nanny and I had known each other long ago, I had no idea how you would react if I ever admitted that we had... you know."

"I was NOT jealous!" Clarisse denied instantly. Joseph raised his eyebrows and she sighed. "All right, I was maybe a LITTLE jealous... and then thinking you might be Charlotte's father because of..."

Joseph interrupted her. "I have to admit to having had some worries myself for a while, although it really didn't seem possible. Yes, Nanny and I had ... well, we HAD... just that one night... but I had been very careful and had used protection, including pulling out early... you don't want to hear this, do you?"

"Not really," Clarisse smiled up at him. "I confess I hate thinking about you with anyone but ME... even though I know I'm not being fair or logical. Besides, as I recall telling my sons a long, long time ago, experts have a great name for people who practice coitus interruptus: PARENTS!" Then her hands cupped his face as she kissed him deeply before pushing him off and getting to her feet.

"Clarisse?"

"I'm just undressing and hanging up my clothes. I don't want Olivia and Priscilla to find my clothes in a heap on the floor again. It happens much too often... There are more than enough stories circulating around the palace about our, er, private matters."

Joseph chuckled, then lifted the covers so she could slide in beside him when she was finished. "So what do you want?" he asked indulgently and lovingly as she squirmed closer still.

"I want everything," was the surprising response as she threw her leg over his and slid on top of him.

"Mmmm," Joseph murmured, kissing her and beginning the movements that brought them such intense pleasure. "Me, too..."

Her love for Joseph still took Clarisse completely by surprise, snatching her up and sweeping her away to a place she had never known existed before her marriage to Joseph. She tried to stifle her cries, but felt intense pleasure breaking over her which went on and on.... Even when it was over, there was no sense of loss or sad completion. He was still touching her, kissing her temples where the hair had grown damp, holding her tightly as if he couldn't get enough of her body or her taste or her smell.

"I love you," he said raggedly. "Only you, Clarisse. It has only ever been you..."

"I know, Joseph," she whispered unevenly, trying to get her breathing under control. "I know. I love you, too... so much..."

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ to be continued


	6. Chapter 6

As if the miracles already experienced were not enough, the young couple's medical condition improved by leaps and bounds over the next few days after receiving the blood. Catherine usually had to be coaxed away from Shades' bedside, where she hungrily stared at him trying to see what he would look like when the bruises and swelling left him and examining closely a picture of the man that Joseph had unearthed for her, memorizing his features and cataloguing the points she recognized as being Tom's and those she knew were hers. At one point, she had examined Charlotte with regards to the infant who was her grandchild, a bittersweet duty indeed. She had given it as her educated opinion that there was no need for emergency surgery as yet, but that the situation should continue to be monitored closely.

They soon fell into a routine, all going to the hospital in the morning, then Clarisse and Joseph returning to the palace before noon so Clarisse could deal with tasks deemed imperative for the throne to deal with immediately and Joseph could immerse himself in security details. They would then return to the hospital in the late afternoon to check on Mia first, then share a meal in the private waiting room with the others. Helen and Patrick, who spent their days with Mia, would occasionally join them for the meal, but more often than not would head back to the palace with Trevor. Wilkes and Nanny sat by Charlotte's bedside almost constantly, and Catherine and Robert stayed at Shades' side. Both Charlotte and Shades were in medically-induced comas, since their systems needed to be slowed down in hopes that they would start to heal. Privately, everyone felt this was much the best, because these few days gave Nanny, Wilkes and Catherine a chance to come to terms with the news of the fact that they were parents, as well as pondering how the news could be broken to the younger couple.

When they all reached the hospital one morning, it was to receive the dismaying news that the baby was not doing well. Upon request, Catherine examined the motionless Charlotte, then bit her lip and raised her eyes to the other doctors. "I think..." she said, a little hesitantly, "I think you'll have to operate soon. The baby's heart..." she couldn't continue.

The other doctors were nodding agreement. Then the Chief of Staff looked Catherine right in the eye and said, "We want you to do it. None of us have ever done in utero surgery, or even SEEN it done."

O o O o O o

"I CAN'T!" The words came out of Catherine's mouth in a soundless scream as she stared helplessly at her husband. "Oh Robert, I just CAN'T. It's not ethical... and what if... what if something goes wrong?"

Robert, seeing Catherine's distress when the doctors had returned to the others and given their report, had instantly known that Catherine was being pushed almost beyond her limit. Nanny and Wilkes had immediately begged Catherine to take care of their daughter and grandchild, saying she had the expertise, but Catherine had continued to shake her head helplessly and protest that a doctor should never operate on her own family. Although disappointed, Nanny and Wilkes had accepted her decision, as had Clarisse and Joseph, but the other doctors had continued to argue in an attempt to persuade her, saying she was the baby's best hope as none of them were specialists in that area. Finally Robert had insisted that he and Catherine needed to be alone, out in the fresh air, and he had taken her out for a walk in the hospital courtyard.

No one else was around, and although the flowers were lovely, Catherine never noticed them. "I can't do it, Robert." she repeated in a tortured voice.

"I understand your reluctance, Catherine," he said softly, holding her close in his arms and soothingly stroking her back. "I understand. You're right. It's not ethical. It shouldn't have to be necessary. But Catherine... you trained for just such a time as this. Maybe little Marybeth WASN'T your special child to save... maybe your own grandchild, from the son you never knew you had until now, is the one special child. Yes, it is very possible that the baby can't be saved – in utero heart surgery is very tricky. But you are the only one in Genovia who has a chance to do the impossible... to save this child."

Catherine moaned faintly, and Robert continued, rather heavily, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that no one, not even Nanny or Wilkes, would want you to feel pressured into HAVING to do this surgery... but..."

"Oh, Robert..." she sighed. "I would hate you for being right if I didn't agree with you. I just... I'm afraid!" she admitted at last. "Terrified!"

"My love, if anyone can do this, you can," Robert said, and kissed her slowly and thoroughly.

She clung to him, putting her heart in her kiss, then drew back and took a deep breath. "You're right. I've got to do it."

"You've got to WANT to do it," was Robert's quiet assertion.

"I do. More than anything, I want to try to save my son's baby... my grandchild."

O o O o O o

Accordingly, the surgery went ahead that very afternoon... and to everyone's joy, it was a success. "And our grand-daughter is doing well now," Catherine announced as she walked into the lounge at the hospital, wearily running her hand through her hair. The operation had taken five long hours.

"Grand-daughter? You know the baby is a girl?" Wilkes was delighted.

Nanny had gone into Catherine's arms along with Clarisse and the three women were crying with happiness. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Catherine!" Nanny gasped.

O o O o O o

The next day saw drama of another sort, and again Catherine was the one most directly affected. She was sitting with Shades, alone for a time while Robert went into Pyrus with Joseph to run some errands. Suddenly the monitors went off and when Catherine sprang to her feet and checked, she realized with horror that Shades' heart had stopped beating.

Yelling for help, Catherine furiously started to massage his heart and force air into his lungs, being exceedingly careful to stay above the stitches in his abdomen. In a low, intense voice she began to call out to Shades, telling him that he was not allowed to leave her, he was NOT to die! "I am your mother, damn it, and I will NOT have you die before we have a chance to talk and get to know one another!" His eyes opened and he stared at her before they rolled back into his head. Catherine continued her work, and resumed talking, "Besides, you're going to be a father! Don't you DARE leave Charlotte and the baby alone! Damn it, Shades, come back to us! Do you hear me? Listen to your mother for the first time in your life!"

By the time help arrived, Shades was back in sinus rhythm and Catherine was in tears. When it was clear that Shades had weathered the crisis and that the other doctors were doing what they could to stabilize him again, she allowed Clarisse to lead her out of the room and, with a quick word to Nanny and Wilkes who promised to follow shortly, Clarisse made arrangements for them both to be taken back to the palace.

"You've been under way too much stress, Catherine," Clarisse said. "It's not like you to..."

"I know," Catherine said, gulping in air and trying to stop weeping. "God, Clarisse, I-I have NEVER acted this way, not even when Tom d-died!"

"So all this has probably been building in your system for years... I know. I was the same after first Rupert and then Philippe died. I had to be strong then... for Genovia. I didn't lose it until Joseph walked away from me the night before Mia's wedding. I think I cried all night, then."

"Oh, I hope I d-don't!" Catherine half-chuckled, half-sobbed. "I couldn't b-bear it. Damn, I hate c-crying!"

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~

Catherine and Robert stayed home from the hospital the next day, needing to get out and walk. Robert insisted that she had been inside too much, and needed the exercise, and he had wryly added that it probably wouldn't hurt him, either. Joseph had pointed them in the direction of the river just past the edge of the palace grounds, after offering them horses from the palace stable. They both looked interested in the possibility of riding, but decided to stick to their own two feet this time.

Once they were out of the cultivated acreage around the sprawling palace and had passed through a gate after nodding at the guard on duty, Catherine could feel the tension falling away from her in waves. Hand in hand, the two walked slowly along the path, noticing the birds, the small woodland animals, the various types of trees. They could hear the bubbling of the brook in the distance when they suddenly came upon a deserted cottage.

"That looks like our vacation home!" Robert said, delightedly. They went up to it and peered through the dirty windows.

When Robert went to try the door, Catherine said firmly, "You are NOT to break into THIS cabin, Robert! We aren't going to die from a winter storm today!"

"Maybe not," Robert bantered with a wicked wink, "but I might die if I can't have a little fun with my wife right now! I'll bet a thousand dollars there's a bed in there...."

"ROBERT!"

"Catherine, you know damn well you're thinking just what I'm thinking!"

"I think we should get back to the palace before someone arrests us for breaking and entering." Catherine resolutely turned away, but not before casting one more wistful glance back at the cottage.

Accordingly, the moment they returned to the palace and Robert could track down Joseph to speak with him privately, things were put into motion for the Woodwards to buy the ramshackle place. "I can fix it up," Robert insisted to Joseph. "THEN we'll tell Catherine."

"I think you're making a big, big mistake not telling her," Joseph warned him, envisioning Clarisse's reaction were he to make a decision like that on his own.

"Nonsen..." Robert broke off mid-word, thought about it, then nodded ruefully. "Probably. All right, I'll go see what she says."

Catherine, hearing Robert's proposal, flung her arms around his neck and almost cried.

"I'll take that as a yes," Robert said, looking smugly over at Joseph.

Trying not to laugh through her tears, Catherine said, "Actually, Robert... you just finished adding a room to our cabin in the States. We should probably get a home here that you DON'T have to fix up!"

"Well, I'll go speak with the person who owns all the property along the river..." Joseph said, escaping before he found himself in the middle of a domestic argument.

Wilkes, overhearing ensuing conversations and realizing that the American couple was contemplating buying a home in Genovia, spoke to Robert and Joseph the next day. He asked where the property was located, because he and Nanny had been discussing the very same thing. "It would be wonderful if we could purchase a home near our good friends. I don't really have to work anymore, our daughter lives here and soon we'll have a grand-daughter to spoil... and there is nothing that really keeps us in New York any longer."

"Not even Eloise?" Robert asked mildly. He had found the child obnoxious the only time he had met her, and couldn't fully understand Nanny's affection for her.

Wilkes smiled. "Eloise can be a handful, but I find her remarkable. She grows on a person. Most importantly for me, however, Nanny loves the child very much. I could never separate them permanently."

"Hmmm," Joseph said, having certain memories of Eloise himself that were not among his most pleasant.

Both Robert and Joseph gripped Wilkes' shoulder for an instant in comradeship, Robert voicing what they both felt. "You're a better man than I, Wilkes, old man. I'm not sure I could put up with Eloise even for my wife's sake..."

"I'd do anything for Nanny," Wilkes replied soberly.

"I swore to myself I wouldn't ask, but... you REALLY never recognized her?" Again Robert put in words the question the others longed to have answered.

Wilkes hung his head shamefacedly, his skin reddening. "Sounds ridiculous, I know, but.... we were both young, foolish... and drunk..."

Joseph grinned. "Well, you couldn't have picked a better person than Nanny to be with then. She is a wonderful woman now, but age and life has had its effect on her, as on the rest of us. She was quite something in those days..."

Narrowing his eyes slightly at his friend, Wilkes was happy to see Joseph catch himself and stop talking. He wasn't happy having Joseph know about his jealousy, but he didn't know how else to make Joseph stop inadvertently turning the screws even tighter in his mind.

"I've got it! By George, I've GOT it!" Robert suddenly burst out. "We'll build a whole COMMUNITY ... a SUBDIVISION of Pyrus... along the river bank there! We can build individual homes, put them on lots which would have views of the river and gardens and small wooded areas... so that nothing's too crowded... and we'll start with homes for Wilkes and Nanny and Catherine and myself... and if you think Clarisse would leave the palace, you'd be welcome to have a home there, too!"

Joseph looked interested. "If it was a gated community, and I could see about security, that would indeed be a possibility. We could leave the palace for Mia... and for any functions Clarisse needs to hold that are too big for a bungalow. The community as a whole could be like a retirement home or something, and could employ gardeners, maintenance crew, maids, cooks..."

"NO ONE likes my famous macaroni and cheese," grumbled Robert.

Ignoring his friend, Joseph added triumphantly, "and the new Children's Hospital has been planned for the area between the city itself and this land by the river, so Catherine wouldn't even have to drive through the city while she's helping set up the staff and the programs at the hospital!"

"Let's get these plans rolling!"

O o O o O o

Nanny and Wilkes were sitting by Charlotte's side that afternoon, one on each side of the bed, holding her hands, when suddenly the young woman's eyes opened. She blinked a few times, frowning slightly. Nanny jumped to her feet. "Charlotte! You're awake! Oh my Lord, Wilkes, call the doctor!"

Just then a nurse came hurrying in. "I see by the monitors that... ah, Miss Kutaway, you're awake! Isn't it nice to have your parents here? They've barely left your side since they arrived in Genovia!"

Even as Nanny and Wilkes gasped at the sudden revelation, Charlotte's eyes moved from one to the other before closing again. The older couple backed away from the bed and the nurse continued to chatter happily as she worked. Then the doctor arrived and asked Nanny and Wilkes to please leave while they removed the ventilator. "We'll let you know when you can come back," he added.

Nervously the two stepped out into the hallway. "Willy," Nanny whispered, "do you think she'll remember what the nurse said? I mean, about us being her PARENTS? I never thought... what will Charlotte think of us? What do you think Charlotte will say when she hears the news? What will she DO?" Nanny began to fret again. "She won't hate us, will she? Oh my Lord..."

"No one could ever hate you, my love," Wilkes patted her hand comfortingly. "Maybe Charlotte didn't understand or even hear the nurse. She looked terribly confused... and in a lot of pain."

Nanny bit her lip. She didn't like to think about Charlotte being in pain. But even more, now, she was concerned with how they were going to tell the young woman that they were her parents... who hadn't even recognized each other after a... a one night stand, for Lord's sake! And who had then given her up like an unwanted scrap! "Oh my stars, stars, stars, Willy, we have rawther a lot to think about!"

O o O o O o

When Charlotte gradually became aware of things again, she was mostly concerned with the pain in her throat, and couldn't understand what had happened. In the back of her mind she had the impression that Nanny and Wilkes had been sitting by her bed, but that made no sense. She opened her eyes, blinked and looked around, trying to figure out where she was. When she tried to move, pain shot through her and she gasped, tears springing to her eyes. Instantly a nurse was there, and Charlotte realized she was in a hospital. "What...? Where...?" she tried to ask, but her voice was barely audible and it hurt to talk.

"Don't try to talk, Miss Kutaway. You're in the hospital... you were in an accident."

"Don't.... remember..."

"You were quite seriously hurt, but you're on the mend now... and you'll be happy to know you're still pregnant..."

Charlotte's eyes widened. "What?"

"Oh," now the nurse was blushing furiously, "I shouldn't have said anything. I thought you knew, of course... your injuries were QUITE severe, and then the baby's heart began to cause problems..."

A BABY? Charlotte closed her eyes, then opened them, feeling more confused than ever. "I don't... have... a baby..." she managed to rasp out.

The nurse laughed. "Not yet, no. But in a few months, you'll be holding the little one in your arms. At present she's quite safe in your womb!"

A baby! Charlotte thought back, and realized that she HAD discovered her pregnancy only recently. She hadn't even told Sha... "Shades!" she suddenly blurted out. "Where...?"

"Shades? Oh, Mr. Marsh! He's... going to be all right. Just rest now, Miss Kutaway ... don't worry about anything! Your parents will be in shortly again... it's so sweet how they've been so faithful, coming every day... and their friends who are sitting with their son, Mr. Marsh. It's amazing how much both women look like Queen Clarisse! Your mother not quite so much, maybe, but Mr. Marsh's mother is almost identical! They've got to be triplets! Which must make you and Mr. Marsh cousins! How nice that you've both got such good jobs at the palace..."

Charlotte was overcome again by panic... her parents were dead... she couldn't POSSIBLY be related to Shades in any way except marriage... their baby... she HAD to get out of here... An injudicious movement sent such pain shooting through her body that Charlotte quietly slipped back into the comforting, thought-free, worry-free darkness.

O o O o O o

When Shades suddenly awoke the next day, the only memories he had of recent events was seeing Her Majesty, Queen Clarisse, leaning over him, telling him he didn't DARE die... and that he had to listen to his mother. His MOTHER? Surely she wasn't saying SHE was his mother! Die? Shades groaned as suddenly the pain he was feeling sank in to his conscious mind.

"Mr. Marsh?" A woman was leaning over him, and when Shades managed to open one eye again, he realized she was a nurse. "Mr. Marsh, don't move. We'll make you more comfortable in a moment. You were in an accident."

Shades opened both eyes wide. He remembered seeing the car ahead braking suddenly... and then catching a glimpse of another car bearing down on him before everything went black...

The nurse continued talking, "You're going to be all right now. Her Majesty, Queen Amelia, is going home tomorrow... Miss Kutaway and you will both be with us for a while. Good thing your parents are here to sit with you. This must be the first time in a week that your mother has left your bedside. She went with Miss Kutaway's parents to look at some property..."

Shades closed his eyes and drifted back into unconsciousness. Nothing the woman had said made sense. He knew Charlotte was an orphan, just as he, himself, was... his weird dream about Her Majesty Queen Clarisse notwithstanding.

~ C&J ~ C&R ~ N&W ~ To be continued....


	7. Chapter 7

It took the better part of a week before either Charlotte or Shades was in any shape to say much to the people who hovered over them so anxiously. Shades had been introduced to Catherine and Robert... and although no one said anything, he remembered his dream and wondered if the woman who looked so much like Queen Clarisse truly thought she could be his mother! HIS? Not a chance! He had grown up knowing his mother had abandoned him at birth because he had been born prematurely and had almost died! And if some miracle had occurred and this... this Catherine tried to tell him that she really WAS his mother, he would have nothing to do with her! After abandoning him, NOW she wanted to claim him? Now that he was almost middle aged and had a very, very good job in Genovia? No!

Not wanting to say anything to either Shades or Charlotte until they were both well on the road to recovery, and having made it clear to the entire hospital staff that the relationship information was not to be mentioned, Catherine, Robert, Nanny and Wilkes continued to visit as friends. At last the day came when, at Nanny's insistence, Charlotte could be taken in a wheelchair into Shades' room to see him. The two were given time to be alone.

Still extremely stiff, Charlotte could only lean forward, pick up Shades' hand and bring it to her lips. "Oh, Shades, I am so glad to see you..."

His fingers traced her lips as his eyes ran over her features lovingly. "My beautiful wife..."

"Oh, Shades," Charlotte blushed. "Hardly beautiful, especially like this!"

"Nanny informed me I had to speak with Queen Amelia about our marriage as soon as possible... that we can't wait until Christmas." Shades murmured, never ceasing his feather-like touches on her face.

"N-no, we can't," Charlotte faltered. "She... she didn't say why?"

"No."

"Shades? You're... you're going to be a father... probably before Christmas."

O o O o O o

That very afternoon, Queen Amelia paid a visit to her Head of Security while Charlotte was with him. Together they admitted to their sovereign that they had secretly been married the previous March while in New York City. Mia frowned teasingly, saying she wasn't at all sure she should sanction it, since they had been so sneaky, but she relented quickly when Charlotte's hand went protectively to her belly.

"Okay, we'll say I KNEW about it before, but couldn't announce anything until Parliament agreed to change that archaic law." Mia rolled her eyes. "We've really got to work on them even more, Charlotte!" Both Charlotte and Shades were most profuse in their gratitude, which Mia waved off as she continued talking. "Oh, by the way, I saw that orphan, Carolina, this morning. Guess what? She has been adopted! She was so proud this morning, and she told me she knows all about adoption now. She says it means that she grew in her mommy's heart instead of her tummy. Isn't that cute?"

Charlotte smiled faintly and Shades looked a little puzzled. Then Mia took her leave, saying, "I think there are six people here who have been waiting to speak with you about something that is none of MY business. I'm not sure why it's Grandma's or Joe's business either, but they're all friends and have been inseparable since our accident! Take care, you two... and for God's sake, don't even THINK about trying to get up to bow or curtsey!"

She was gone before Shades or Charlotte could move. They looked at each other for a moment, then back at the door to see Nanny almost creeping in, Wilkes right behind her, followed by Catherine then Robert... and Clarisse and Joseph bringing up the rear. Charlotte and Shades both tightened the grip they had on each other's hand. Perhaps NOW they would get the answers to some of the things that had been puzzling them since awakening in the hospital.

O o O o O o

Shades and Charlotte found the news about their true parentage every bit as incredible as the older people had. However, it didn't take long before Charlotte was being held in Wilkes' embrace while she sobbed her happiness and held on to Nanny's hands tightly. Shades eyed his wife, then his gaze slid to Catherine, supposedly his own mother. She must have read the repudiation in his eyes, because her face grew pale and tight.

"I was abandoned and left to die because I came early. What mother does that?" Shades growled.

Robert stepped up, his hands encircling Catherine's shoulders lovingly as he glared at Shades. "Damn it, have some respect! You can at least listen to her story! She suffered every bit as much as YOU did!"

Shades folded his arms carefully over the bandages on his torso, and leaned back on the pillows, saying nothing. Then Clarisse stepped up. "I know it's not my story to tell, but Catherine told me everything, Shades. She wanted children desperately... both she and her husband did."

Shades' glance flickered to Robert, who shook his head. "Not me," he said. "We've only been married a couple of months. Your mother was married for a long time to your father, Tom Howard, who died two years ago."

As Shades digested that information, Clarisse continued. "Your mother was devastated when, for the second time, she miscarried, or rather, was TOLD she had miscarried, at six months."

"If I'd known you were still alive, I..." Catherine couldn't continue.

"Shades, we have no idea why YOU were told your mother abandoned you, or why Catherine and Tom were told you had been born dead, but rest assured, I will get to the bottom of it if at all possible," Joseph spoke for the first time.

"It might NOT be possible," Shades muttered. "It was a long time ago. And the Marshs aren't around anymore to tell THEIR story."

"All I ask," Catherine said brokenly, "is a chance to get to know you... and my grandchild."

"Can I stop you?" Shades said, a trifle sarcastically.

Charlotte turned at that point and frowned at him. It hurt him to see that she was so happy to have found her biological parents, and that she wasn't even questioning why they hadn't said anything the first time they had come to Genovia. "Shades?" she said softly. "For me?"

"All right," he sighed, rather ungraciously. "But I'm tired now. Can we talk later?"

"Rest and get well before you try to do too much thinking," Joseph said, patting Shades' shoulder. He loved the other man like a son... and had almost from the first day they had met.

O o O o O o

Over the next few months, as gradually Shades and Charlotte fully recovered, Robert and Catherine kept themselves busy with their building plans of both home and hospital, and Catherine managed to keep inside all the anguish she felt at Shades' continued covert rejection of any overtures she attempted. Only at night, in Robert's arms, did she gain some semblance of complete happiness. Yes, there were happy moments, such as when they could move into their new home the same day Nanny and Wilkes could move into theirs next door and knowing that after Christmas Clarisse and Joseph would be moving into their home on the other side. Another good memory was the opening of the brand-new Genovian Children's Hospital and knowing that it was staffed with hard-working, knowledgeable professionals.

Nanny and Wilkes were supremely happy. They had told Charlotte their whole story and the three had cried on each other's shoulders. They had made a flying trip back to New York City and Wilkes had wrapped up his business there completely. Nanny had spent a week with Eloise and Kay, and had invited them to visit in Genovia the following summer, when they could meet Charlotte's baby. Eloise had been overwhelmed to hear that her friend, Charlotte, was Nanny's baby, and was having her OWN. "It's absolutely divine, divine, divine!" she had carolled.

Joseph and Clarisse were thrilled for their friends, especially since both were so close to the younger couple. Clarisse had hesitated about moving in to the smaller house, but Mia had assured her that Clarisse could think of the new home as the Dower House and would be welcome to entertain or drop in at the palace any time. "After all, Grandma, you've lived here a lot longer than I have!" Mia had grinned.

Then one day they got the call that Charlotte had gone into premature labour... and could Catherine please come immediately.

O o O o O o

"The baby's heart rate is flat." a nurse said softly.

Catherine could sense the tension in the room and she gritted her teeth. NO! This would NOT happen! Not to this baby!

The other doctor eased the tiny body out of Charlotte's womb. The baby girl was very small but perfectly formed... and dark blue. The moment the cord was severed, Catherine whisked the infant to a separate area she had already been shown. No matter how many times she had witnessed the miracle of birth, Catherine usually felt an overwhelming surge of tenderness and acute wonder at this first emergence of a human being into the world. This time, like too many others, there was gut-wrenching apprehension because she was well aware that this scrap of a girl might not make it. Her birth, indeed most of her gestation, had been traumatic in the extreme. Feeling as though she was re-living last Christmas Eve with Robert's daughter and grand-daughter, not to mention her OWN birthing experiences, Catherine now fought desperately for her limp and still grand-daughter.

The silence stretched unbearably and Catherine inwardly prayed passionately as her heart hammered with apprehension and her hands moved steadily and confidently. And then, to everyone's delight, the baby suddenly trembled violently and gave a choked, squawking cry. A ragged cheer went up from the entire team in the delivery room.

"That's my sweetheart," Catherine crowed as more short, sharp cries came from the baby.

The other doctor declared in a pleased tone, "Sounding good, young lady!"

After examining the baby thoroughly, Catherine could finally relax. "My guess is that she'll be fine."

O o O o O o

Still not comfortable intruding upon Shades and Charlotte, Catherine, Robert, Nanny, Wilkes, Clarisse and Joseph all stood in the hallway outside Charlotte's hospital room, shifting from foot to foot 'rawther uncomfortably' as Nanny whispered. Catherine was feeling both happy and sad, wishing she had a better relationship with her long-lost son.

Obviously Nanny had been heard, because Shades was at the door in an instant, smiling at Catherine with such love and gratitude in his eyes that the woman was overcome. "You've come to see your grand-daughter?" he asked her, then added softly, "Mother?"

Catherine bit her lip and couldn't speak, but she nodded and smiled through the tears that shone in her eyes. Robert supported her, and nudged her forward gently.

Shades swallowed, then stepped forward and hugged Catherine tightly. He whispered in her ear, "Thank you! Thank you, Mother, for my life, and for my daughter's life, twice over. Thank you! I'm sorry I was so rotten to you when I first found out, but know that I truly love you... and not just for what you did today!"

The silence in the hallway was deafening... then Nanny tapped Shades' shoulder. "Excuse me, Daddy... but may the OTHER grandparents come in if you're not going to usher Grandma in first? My stars, stars, stars, THIS Nanny wants to go in!"

"And the HONORARY grandparents too?" Clarisse added her voice to Nanny's. "This granny is longing to see the new baby!"

Shades released Catherine and chuckled. "Yep. All grandparents, biological and ornery, are welcome. Come on in!"

"ORNERY?" Joseph glared at the younger man. "I'll have you know..."

Without waiting to hear the end of Joseph's reprimand, and laughing at the release of tension, the others crowded in to see Charlotte sitting up in bed cradling a blanket-wrapped bundle. The tiny girl wasn't asleep. Her deep blue eyes were wide open, and one curled-up leg poked out of the wrappings and rested against Charlotte's stomach. The baby looked up at them, her brow furrowed, as if she were pondering their place in her new life.

"She's absolutely beautiful, Charlotte. I think she has her daddy's hair," Nanny said, stroking the little head with its halo of black silk. Then she held out her arms. "Here, give her to me. You've had your turn, for Lord's sake!"

Charlotte laughed and handed over the sweet bundle. The other grandparents and 'ornery' grandparents gathered around, their hearts swelling with love for this child whose journey to this point in her life had been so precarious.

"She's got her grandmother's eyes," Wilkes said.

"She has the same eyes as all THREE of her grandmothers!" grinned Shades, looking at the three faces, so similar, bending dotingly over the baby in Nanny's arms. "And they're just like Charlotte's."

"Does she have a name yet?" Robert asked, crowding in like the others to offer a finger to the infant.

"Julie. Our own precious Jools."

"She is indeed a precious jewel – to ALL of us!" Catherine said.

O o O o O o

The revelations that had come about in the last few months had turned that which previously had been only known in part into that which was now known fully. And Julie was indeed a precious jewel, uniting them all into one family.

THE END


End file.
